Chapter Text
“You left your books again, Jimin?! This is the third time this week!” His friends said, calling out to him as he ran back towards the stairs leading outside.
“I’ll be back soon! Save me a seat at the table!” Fifth year Gryffindor student Park Jimin shouted over his shoulder, waving his hand as he took the steps three at a time. His robes billowed in the wind, trailing behind him as he set out across the grounds.
The lake was quiet and peaceful in the late afternoon, although it felt a little strange to be out there alone. The slowly setting sun mirrored its own journey against the water, casting a soft orange glow over everything.
Against the sound of the water lapping against the shore, Jimin hummed softly to himself as he jogged back over to the lone tree on the hill, slowing to a walk as he approached. Slightly out of breath, he walked around to the other side of the tree, eyes focused on the ground. When he spotted the textbook he’d left propped up against the oak, he bent down.
“There you are,” he muttered to himself, patting dirt off the cover.
The sun was warm against his back and the breeze that picked up blew his hair back, cooling the sweat the prickled on his forehead. The sounds of the other students faded off in the distance, as they all filed slowly back into the castle for dinner. It felt just like the end to any other day.
But then it happened. The catalyst to all that happened afterwards.
Because the very moment Jimin stood back up, a splash in the lake caught his attention. He glanced over, and was immediately enthralled.
There was a fully clothed boy in the lake, bobbing up and down in the now choppy waves. The telltale soapy glimmer of a Bubble-Head Charm popped out of existence as the boy smoothed wet black hair back against his scalp. He took in a gasp of fresh air, letting the water drip down his neck.
He swam carefully back toward the shore, holding his right hand in a fist above the water. A curling tentacle from the depths of the lake eventually helped him along, lifting him up the collar of his wet uniform and depositing him back onto the shore before slipping quietly back under the waves.
Jimin felt very much like a voyeur, peering out from the shade of the lone oak tree on the hill. And yet he couldn’t look away, not when the boy’s wet shirt clung to his figure, almost translucent enough to see the skin underneath.
And as the boy clambered to his feet, opening his palm to reveal a ring that he held up to the fading sunlight to examine, Jimin finally got a good look at his face.
Oh, Jimin thought blankly as the wind rustled through the trees, ruffling his hair as it passed.
I know that boy.
That was Min Yoongi.
-
He wasn’t exactly Yoongi’s friend. Quite the opposite, really. Although they shared Potions class together, they’d never really interacted other than That-Which-Had-Happened in their first year, which had, up until that point, colored Jimin’s opinion of the other boy very unfavorably.
And yet for as much as he wanted to forget all about what he’d seen, he couldn’t help but to replay it over and over in his mind as he walked back to the Great Hall, textbook gripped tightly in his suddenly sweaty palms.
Why had Yoongi been out there in the lake? And what was that about the ring?
It was a burning question that distracted him all day, one that made him pay no attention to where he was going until he’d mistakenly found himself in front of the Ravenclaw common room instead of his own.
He spent the whole night with his arms folded under his head, staring up at the canopy of his bed with a puzzled frown.
Thankfully, Jimin didn’t have to wait long for an answer.
-
The very next day, an unmarked parcel containing one gold ring dropped into third year student Wendy’s lap.
The girl shrieked upon unwrapping the gift, so loudly that it drew everyone’s attention. Every student and even the professors were turning in their seats, staring bemusedly at the Ravenclaw student as she clutched it tightly to her chest, stamping her legs excitedly as if she were a child.
“What’s going on?” Came the whispers, from up and down each of the four house tables.
“What’s she shouting about?”
Although most people were staring in Wendy’s direction, like owls with their heads on a pivot, Jimin whipped the other direction to look over at the Slytherins instead, eyeing the only person who seemed to be completely unaffected by the noise coming from the Ravenclaw table.
Yoongi didn’t react at all. Instead, he sat there studiously reading his textbook at the lone end of the Slytherin table, wearing that same sour expression on his face as he’d had when Jimin had first met him, all those years ago.
And yet all that flashed in Jimin’s mind was the way Yoongi had looked when he’d taken that first breath of air - dewy and fair-skinned, still dripping wet with water, condensation beading up on the bow of those very same scowling lips.
“Something the matter?” One of his best mates asked curiously, breaking through the solid wall of Jimin’s thoughts to pass him a basket of biscuits.
“It’s nothing, Namjoon,” Jimin muttered, reluctantly turning back to face forward.
And it really was, wasn’t it?
Yoongi obviously liked the third year, which was why he’d given her a ring (although whatever it was about her that was special, Jimin had no idea). Simple as that.
And yet something about it still nagged at him for the rest of the day, and the next day afterward. There was just something strange about the whole thing. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on it yet.
-
To understand That-Which-Had-Happened and That-Which-Was-To-Happen, you’d have to understand first that Park Jimin hadn’t come from a prominent wizarding family. No, in fact his parents were hardworking muggles stuck firmly in the middle class.
He’d no idea what life would be like in the ‘Wizarding World’, having only read about witches and wizards in the books his parents had read to him as a child.
Everything had been new and exciting, from the ash wand he picked up for the first time at Ollivander’s, to the fire that came out of his mouth the first time he’d eaten a Pepper Imp. And then, of course, there was Hogwarts.
When he’d stepped into the castle for the very first time, he was wide eyed with wonder - filled with the naive innocence only a muggleborn could have. There were whispers of excitement filtering in through the crowd, all this talk about sorting and hats and houses, but Jimin barely heard a thing. He walked with a slackened jaw through the Great Hall for the first time, looking up to see the floating candles and the enchanted ceiling that showed a starry night sky.
Like most things back then, the divide between the Hogwarts houses had been completely lost on his eleven year old self. He didn’t know what it really meant to be a Slyther-whatsit or a Huffle-who, only that the bright grins and the whooping cheers of his new housemates filled him with a giddy joy as the hat on his head announced loudly - GRYFFINDOR!
He remained equally as starstruck for the rest of the ceremony, eyes widening comically when the headmaster’s speech ended and the towering mountains of food appeared before them in the blink of an eye. By the time the feast was over, belly full and mind buzzing, he’d followed the rest of his new house back towards the common rooms. The warning he barely heeded from the Headboy to ‘keep up, keep up’ went in one ear and out the other as he trailed slowly behind the group, eyes wandering as he tried to follow the ghostly figures weaving in and out of the dusty chandeliers.
It was only when he felt a cold draft that he looked down to realize that he was the only one left in the hall.
In his flustered dash to rejoin the rest of his house, he turned the corner quickly - only to run straight into another boy.
They both fell back onto the floor. Jimin shook the stars out of his eyes first, getting up and dusting his pants off before walking over to the other boy who remained seated on the floor, grimacing with a hand on his head.
“I’m sorry about that, my parents say I’m a bit absent minded at times,” he said, sticking out his hand to help the other boy onto his feet. “My name is Park Jimin, what’s yours?”
Jimin found himself on the receiving end of a frosty glare that had the smile on his own face fading. The boy, black haired and sullen, sneered up at him with reddened and watery eyes. As if Jimin was nothing but a bother.
He smacked Jimin’s hand out of the way, standing up without any help.
Jimin’s young heart had ached, stung by the rejection of his peer.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you, I just -“
Jimin found himself silenced again when the other boy pushed him out of the way, not bothering to look back as he rounded the corner Jimin had just come from.
-
Jimin didn’t learn his name until their third year.
Even though they’d shared the same Sorting Ceremony, they’d barely crossed paths since.
In stark contrast to Jimin who quickly built up a circle of close friends, the other boy always seemed to be alone.
This was all to say that by the time he was fourteen, he’d practically forgotten that the other boy even existed.
It wasn’t until one day, in a strange mirror of their first meeting, that the boy had very nearly ran into them as he and his friends walked down the corridors to their next class.
Just like he had before, the boy had scowled fiercely at them, muttering curses under his breath as he brushed roughly past them.
“Well, good to see that Yoongi’s still an arsehole,” Hufflepuff student Hoseok said with a roll of his eyes.
“Yoongi?” Jimin parroted, looking over his shoulder with a frown to stare at the boy’s back.
“Yeah, Yoongi. Slytherin in every way. A pure blooded bastard - with no manners!” Hoseok said. The other boys quickly nodded, each having apparently formed the same opinion of the boy as Hoseok.
“You know, I hear he’s a genius,” the only other Hufflepuff in their group, Taehyung, tacked on with a mumble. “Rumor has it that he mastered wandless magic when he was only eight.”
“Hah! I’ll believe that when I see it,” Hoseok snorted. “If I were him, I’d be more concerned about learning how to hold a conversation. He’s certainly not going anywhere in life with that type of attitude.”
At the time Jimin had readily agreed. It even pleased him to know that he wasn’t the only one who felt that way about the other boy. So he’d laughed, and nodded along, and thought nothing more about Min Yoongi for the next two years.
-
Several weeks after the ring incident, and absolutely nothing of interest had happened.
The only thing that was on most of the student’s minds were the first exams of the year, which was why all the members of Jimin’s ragtag group were huddled up together in the library, pouring over textbooks and scribbling notes down on parchment.
Besides Jimin, there were two other Gryffindors seated at the table. No one could forget Jungkook. Handsome and effortlessly charming, he was the poster child of their house who, since the very first day he’d been sorted, had seen no end to the number of times he’d been shyly confessed to by another girl in his year. Then there was Namjoon, another Gryffindor. He was a year older, an excellent Keeper with a spotless record, and a surprisingly studious student for someone with such an athletic build.
There were two Hufflepuffs in their group: Hoseok, who you could always find just by following the sound of loud, boisterous voice - and Taehyung, who was, in stark contrast to his fellow housemate, very quiet. And very strange. He kept his pet toads in his pocket. How they survived in there, no one knew.
They only had one Ravenclaw friend, the always flustered teacher’s pet Jin, who, if not constantly nagging them to study, was always worried about something.
“Oh for the love of Christ, how am I supposed to finish my muggle studies essay if I can’t find my damn quill?” Jin grumbled, digging through his bag. He gave up quickly, throwing his hands up in defeat and turning to the boy seated next to him.
“Taehyung, could I borrow one of your quills?”
“For a Head Boy you’d think you’d keep better track of where you put your things,” Taehyung added cheekily, although he relented and handed over one of his extra quills.
“Well, as a Head Boy I’ve got more important things to worry about,” Jin huffed, snatching the quill out of Taehyung’s fingers, “...unlike you. How’s that chocolate frog card collection of yours coming along?”
“Quite well, thank you,” said Taehyung without pause.
On the other side of the table, Namjoon looked up from his textbook.
“You know, we do have our Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend,” he added helpfully, “we could always stop by Scrivenshaft’s if you need more quills.”
Jin hummed, crinkling his nose in quiet consideration.
“Speaking of,” Hoseok interrupted, leaning forward to leer over at Jungkook, “seems like our resident golden boy will be too busy to join us. I have it on good authority that he has a date… at Madam Puddifoot’s!”
The table of boys erupted in howling laughter and loud whistles, turning Jungkook’s face a bright red. The noise attracted Madam Pince, who quickly rounded the corner like a viper to silence them.
“Gentlemen, this is a library, not a place for gossip!” The librarian hissed, glaring down murderously at them over her beak-like nose. They squirmed uncomfortably in their seats, sheepishly apologizing and averting their gazes.
When they’d all obediently bent their heads back down over their textbooks and scrolls, Madam Pince narrowed her eyes, giving them one last hard look before turning away with a sniff to menace another group of misbehaving students.
“It’s not a date,” Jungkook hissed, as soon as the coast was clear, “Yoona was just hoping to get some help on her Charms homework.”
“At Madam Puddifoot’s? What mentally capable man goes to that hellscape to do homework?” Namjoon whispered, closing his Arithmancy book and giving up all pretense of studying.
“No, no, you are missing the more important detail here - how on earth did Jungkook get seventh year Yoona to go on a date with him?” Jin hissed, giving in to the draw of gossip despite his best attempts to appear above it all.
“What do you mean! He’s the most eligible bachelor in our entire year…”
“Have you forgotten the fact that Yoona has never been interested in anyone before? Not even when that Durmstrang exchange student who everyone else was mooning over last year was head over heels in love with her?”
“Well, I suppose that’s true, but…”
The group burst into another furious round of whispers. They only quieted down when Jimin, the only one at the table who hadn’t said a word in the past hour, finally spoke up.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Jimin asked, with a troubled expression on his face, “is that third year Wendy going out with anyone?”
The boys looked at each other curiously, not sure how to answer the question that seemed to come completely out of nowhere.
Hoseok took the dive first, leaning slowly forward to peer over at Jimin.
“Wendy Son?” He asked, frowning when the other boy nodded. “I don’t believe so? ...why did you want to know?”
“You’re not seriously interested in a dating a third year, are you?” Jungkook added quickly, voicing the question everyone else had been thinking.
“No, no, no,” Jimin said, shaking his head quickly. “I was just - just curious - because of what happened at breakfast the other day.”
“You mean when she lost her mind over a ring?” Taehyung said with a husky laugh.
“Right, I just don’t know who else would have sent her that kind of gift unless they were interested in her romantically,” Jimin mumbled, quickly covering up his tracks.
“It really was strange, wasn’t it?” Jin agreed, tapping the feathered tip of his borrowed quill against his chin. “She seemed much too excited for what it was. It wasn’t even enchanted, from what I could tell.”
“I think it was hers to begin with. Don’t you remember last week, when she made that huge fuss about dropping some piece of jewelry in the lake?” Namjoon pointed out, making Hoseok snap his fingers across the table in recognition.
“Right, I remember that!” He said. “She practically threw a tantrum about it - said it’d been her grandmother’s, or something silly like that.”
“Are you telling me that someone actually dove into the lake to get that ring for her?” Jin asked in an incredulous tone.
“Why else do you think she was so excited about it? I could hear her shrieking about it from our table!” Hoseok responded.
“Well, in that case, Jimin’s right,” said Taehyung, “she must have a very devoted boyfriend if they went out of their way to do that sort of thing.”
“I wouldn’t do it,” Hoseok said, shaking his head resolutely as he folded his arms over his chest, “Not even if Yoona begged me to do it.”
“You liar, you’d bend over backwards for her if she even looked your way!” Jungkook bit back, taking revenge for Hoseok’s previous comments.
Tables flipped, the tips of Hoseok’s ears turned quickly red, and the other boy folded his arms and looked away.
“I wouldn’t!” “You would!” “Oh, shut up!” “You started it!” “Guys…”
As the group’s volume began to rise again, making Madam Pince poke her head out from between the aisles to glare at them again, Jimin tuned out the rest of the conversation, sinking back slowly into his chair with a troubled hum.
Perhaps he should have let it go, having had his own conclusion reflected back to him by his friends - but Jimin did nothing but brood over it instead.
-
It was just a little bit chilly, that weekend in Hogsmeade. It had rained earlier that day, forming large muddy puddles of water that the Hogwarts students splashed through on their merry way there.
Jimin and his friends went about their usual schedule - first a trip to Honeydukes, to refill Taehyung’s unusual collection of chocolate frogs, then to Spintwitches to ogle over the newest line of brooms. They were boys, after all. They sat down for a butter beer or two or three at the Three Broomsticks before slowly making their way over to Scrivenshaft’s — only after, of course, an absolutely necessary pit stop to make faces at Jungkook through the embellished frou frou drapes of Madam Puddifoot’s pink windows.
When they finally arrived at the dusty door of the quill and parchment shop an hour later, they stepped inside into a shop that smelled overwhelmingly like wet wood and aged paper.
The group quickly dispersed into the aisles. Jin and Namjoon stood shoulder to shoulder as the two eldest mulled over which set of new quills to purchase. The rest - Jimin, Hoseok and Taehyung - were left to their own devices, wandering aimlessly around.
It was not much warmer on the inside of the shop as it was outside, and Jimin found himself shivering, wrapping his scarf just a little tighter around his neck as he rounded down the end of one aisle and stepped down another. Knowing just how picky Jin was and how much time it would probably take the other boy to make his choice, Jimin took his time. He skimmed his fingers over row after row of brightly colored parchment, watching the way the paper fluttered underneath his fingertips. It reminded him of the little notes they used to pass each other in class, crudely formed paper frogs and birds that would hop or fly along quietly until they reached their recipient. Jimin cracked a small smile.
By the time he’d finish perusing every single type of parchment that the store carried, it was five minutes later. Jimin found himself standing listlessly by the window, watching as students and villagers alike walked past, the sounds of their conversation silenced to a dim whisper by the weak Muffliato charm cast over the shop.
Jimin recognized more than a few of his classmates, bending their heads toward each other as they passed by the shop, whispering gossip to each other and throwing their heads back in joyous laughter.
There were also third years running about, easily distinguishable by the armfuls of sugar quills and fizzing whizzbees they carried and the excitement written clearly all over their faces - this was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, after all, and also the first time the third years had ever been allowed to go.
Jimin slipped his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his heels as he lazily watched them all pass by the window. Just as his mind began to drift off into daydreams though, he found his gaze snapping to a familiar face - Wendy was slowly making her way across the street with a gaggle of her friends. She was beaming from ear to ear, giggling at something her friends said as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. A ring was on her finger, but Jimin couldn’t tell whether or not it was the same one he’d seen Yoongi picking out of the lake.
And just as the age old adage goes - ‘speak of the devil and he should appear’ - to Jimin’s great shock Yoongi was making his way out of Dervish and Banges at the very same moment. Closing the door firmly behind him, the slytherin stepped down from the stoop, walking briskly toward Jimin’s left - and headed directly into the incoming path of Wendy and her friends.
Jimin held his breath, leaning so far forward that he was stretched onto his tiptoes. He placed his hands on the dusty windowsill so that he could crane his neck to see out the window, puffing hot breaths of white fog onto the cold glass.
Come on, come on, Jimin thought to himself, waiting with a strange and nervous anticipation for Yoongi to look up, or for him to hear Wendy’s loud laughter. Something.
And yet he would only be disappointed.
The slytherin never looked up as he passed by. Never even looked in her general direction. It didn’t seem like he even recognized her. Like two ships passing in the night.
Flabbergasted, Jimin couldn’t help but gape openly, digging his fingers into the windowsill as he tried to follow Yoongi’s figure down the cobblestone road.
When the slytherin disappeared out of view, Jimin found himself slowly backing away from the window as if compelled by an Imperius Curse that the other boy had cast on him. Dry-mouthed and blank-faced, he made his way wordlessly to the entrance. He bumped into Taehyung along the way, practically flattening the other boy against the shelves in his hurry.
“Oi, Jin hasn’t bought his quills yet!” Taehyung shouted as Jimin flung open the door. Hearing the commotion, Hoseok, Jin and Namjoon poked their heads out from the shelves.
“Where are you going?” Someone called out to him.
“Something, uh, something came up,” Jimin said numbly, his fingers still gripping the doorknob tightly. “I’ll see you guys back at school, alright?”
Without bothering to wait for his friends to respond, he shut the door, jogging toward the looming castle in the distance in pursuit of a slowly retreating figure.
-
Kibum “Key” Kim had been hiding the fact that he liked men for three years now. Ever since he’d ‘fraternized’ with another boy behind the bleachers during a Ravenclaw-Gryffindor quidditch game, he’d been both elated and terrifed at the revelation that he was gay.
Although he’d come to accept that fact about himself, what he had worried endlessly about was what would happen if his housemates found out. They’d make fun of him, he was sure of it, and he’d never be able to live it down. At least not during his seventh year, not when he’d worked so hard over the years to become well respected by his peers.
All this was to say that he was very sensitive to the teasing words of his peers, more so than most boys his age. Unlike them, he had something to hide.
“Ahhh!” Key shrieked, in a high-pitched voice, as he tripped and fell flailing forward into a deep puddle of mud. It splattered fantastically all over his clothes, covering his robe and his previously white button-up shirt with a thick, goopy brown. He looked down at his clothes in dismay, only to freeze when he heard the snickers.
“I’ve never heard you sound like that before,” one of his friends crowed, holding his side as he shook with silent laughter.
“You sound like a girl, mate!” Said another one of his friends, joining in the laughter that grew louder and louder.
Key’s face burned a bright red.
“I - I did not,” he stuttered, struggling to his feet. As quick as he could, he pulled his wand out from his pocket, trying and failing in his flustered state to successfully cast a cleaning charm on himself. The words were like lead in his mouth, and the magic sputtered and fizzled as he continued to stutter his every attempt at casting it. It only made his friends laugh even harder, and the redness on his cheeks grew.
Just as he began to feel humiliated tears welling up in his eyes, he felt the telltale tingle of a cleaning charm wrap around him, wiping the mud off of his face and off of his clothes, leaving them spotless once again.
Looking around at the faces of his friends to see who had helped him, he noticed that they were frozen, staring behind him at something. He whirled around, only to come face to face with a Slytherin he didn’t recognize.
“I hadn’t realized you hadn’t passed second year Charms,” the boy said snootily, folding his arms over his chest. “If I had known, I might not have pushed you.”
“...you pushed me?” Key asked, as the confusion began to fade away into anger.
“Well some people do have places to be, you know,” the little shit had the audacity to sneer. “Next time hurry up, won’t you?”
“Fuck you,” Key bit back, this time supported by his friends who had just as quickly flipped from making of fun of him to cheering him on.
The slytherin boy looked completely nonplussed by his show of bravado though.
“Are you just about finished?” The boy said, quirking an arrogant eyebrow.
Key reached out, shoving the boy backward as hard as he could. The slytherin fell into the puddle, splattering his uniform with as much if not more mud as had been on Key’s.
Key’s chest swelled, and he puffed it out like a big bird, trying to tower as much as he could over the fallen boy.
“Finished,” Key said coolly, before spinning on his heel and walking away. He was followed closely by his friends, who were once again singing his praise.
Other than to seethe over the indignity of it all for another minute, he spared no other thought on the slytherin who still sat there shivering on the ground, covered head to toe in mud.
-
After what felt like ages, Yoongi finally got up with a sigh, wiping the mud out of his eyes as best as he could. He took out his wand, casting a few cleaning charms on himself to get rid of most of the mess. After it became clear that there was nothing more he could do, he tucked his wand back into his pocket.
Suppressing a shiver, he wrapped his still somewhat damp robe tightly around his body, taking a step forward to continue his trek back to the castle - but then he paused.
Something didn’t feel right.
He turned around, looking behind him with a frown.
Yoongi wasn’t sure what he’d been anticipating, because there was nothing to see. Other than a small group of students trailing a couple hundred yards behind him, all there was to see were the large and barren trees of the forbidden forest, lining the dirt road.
He stared for a second longer before blinking and shaking his head, dismissing the strange feeling he’d felt.
Must have been nothing, he thought to himself, as he started to walk back toward the castle. This time, he didn’t look back.
-
Jimin’s heart was leaping out of his chest. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he kept himself pressed as close as he could to the thick bark of the tree he’d been hiding behind.
And as he stared blankly in front of him, his body still frozen with the pounding adrenaline of almost getting caught, his mind raced.
Yoongi hadn’t pushed the other boy, Jimin thought to himself. Yoongi hadn’t been anywhere near him.
And yet he’d said he had.
There it was again. Another strangely altruistic occurrence, seemingly witnessed by nobody other than himself. One that made the realization slowly dawn on him, as he stood there frozen in the shadow of that tree.
Yoongi hadn’t done it for the praise, or the love, or any other type of reward. He’d done it solely because he’d wanted to.
That night, as if in a daze, Jimin sat down and wrote a letter.